Snow Day
by The Legend of Rune Factory
Summary: It's wintertime in Kardia. Mist and Raguna are both lonely without anyone, so they keep each other company. However, boredom soon strikes. The remedy? Snowballs, walks, and...wolves? Rated T for some violence in the second chapter.
1. Snowballs and Hot Chocolate

**A/N: Hey! This is my first _Rune Factory_ fic submitted to this wonderful site. Where I live recently got a bunch of snow, which was what inspired this. Now, if you ever read my other _Rune Factory _fic (I'm in the process of writing it as of now. Over half-done, and hopefully soon to be finished!) you'll see that this and another scene in it are pretty much alike. I didn't mean for that to happen, but it did. Oh well. Anyway, enjoy! Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Believe me on this one. **

* * *

As snow fell from the silver-blue sky, Mist began pondering on the topic of the current season: winter. She smiled as she remembered something Raguna had mentioned to her earlier that period of freezing time:

"Mist, if you're not careful, you'll blend in with the snow." After, of course, came a light, little laugh that got her going into a fit of giggles.

_Of course_, she thought, _he's right. My hair is white; most of the clothes I own are white; and the snow is white! I would be able to sneak up behind him in a snowstorm and he wouldn't even see me! _

Saying so, not that she would have the slightest intention of sneaking upon him in a snowstorm. Knowing Mist, she would most likely call out to him and tell him she was there so he would not become alarmed of a figure coming upon him. As such was the fathom of which she cared for and about him.

A rap on the old wood of the front door broke her train of thought. She stood, smoothing her blue shirt to wrinkleless and skipped to answer the caller. The small gasp of surprise that escaped her lips made him smile. "Afternoon, Mist."

"Raguna! Ah, um, what are you doing here?"

His smile widened. "I came to see you. Mind if I come in?" He gestured to the rest of the house behind her.

"Oh, of course! Get in here, you'll get sick or something," She mumbled, taking hold of his wrist and pulling him into her home.

He shrugged out of his coat and shook the white fluff from it. The hook by the door served as its holder. Finally he turned to Mist, the color returning to his face as the warmness of the house penetrated his skin. "I got bored since there's nothing to do at home. I thought I'd come visit, you know?"

"Yeah…that's fine. I don't mind." She smiled half-heartedly.

"Awesome." He walked into the main room and sat in front of the fireplace, which was burning cheerfully with the happy popping of the logs. "I hope you don't care if I warm up first."

"N-no, that's fine." Mist watched as he turned back to the fire. She crept to the kitchen, looking around in a panic to find something to give him with the intent of nourishment and warmth. Her gray-blue eyes alighted on a tin of cocoa. _I just hope he likes hot chocolate…_

With quick, deft movement, she soon had two mugs full of powdered chocolate and the kettle beginning to boil. She leaned on the counter behind her. _He's in my house… Raguna is in my house. Hm. He said he wanted to visit me because he's bored, but…is there another reason, too?_ Her cheeks took on a reddish tint with the thought, for, though she may deny it in the social party with her friends, she did indeed find that she had quite the fancy for the young farmer.

She suddenly became aware of a hand touching hers. She looked up, startled, into the face of the one she was thinking of. His eyes held a slightly stern look to them, and his voice reflected that. "You need to pay attention. This thing has been whistling for the past two minutes."

"Really? I'm sorry, I was just…thinking…" Mist sighed.

His visage lost the sternness and he became jovial once more. "It's fine; I just don't like listening to something like that. Hey, is that hot chocolate? Great! I need some of this!" He quickly poured the boiling water into his mug and stirred it with the spoon she had laid out.

She did the same and followed him back to the main room. He had pulled up a chair to the fire and was staring into the dancing flames. Mist sighed to herself once more. He glanced at her over the top of his mug. "What's up?"

"Hm?" She jerked her body upright, from where it had been slowly leaning to the side from thought. "Um, nothing, I guess." She offered a small smile before turning to where the soft, six-pointed stars fell gracefully beyond her window.

Raguna followed her gaze, a slow grin spreading across his face. "Hey, have you ever been in a snowball fight?"

"Yeah, but it's been a long time. Why?" Her eyebrow rose.

"Come on." He grabbed her arm and pulled her to the foyer, pulling on his boots, coat, and gloves. "We're going outside."

"But, it's cold out there!"

"Put on a coat and it won't be so bad."

Mist shook her head and pulled a light-gray coat from another hook and slipped her feet into a pair of boots. She barely had time to equip her gloves before Raguna pulled her out the door.

The bright light reflecting from the diamond-like snow blinded both of them momentarily. When Mist was able to take her hand from her eyes, she gasped. The ground had barely been disturbed, drifts and waves of snow lying over the hibernating grass. The sun glinted (not so harshly now) from it perfectly.

Suddenly, she felt something cold sliding down her back.

"Agh! Raguna!" She wheeled around. He was snickering behind her, another snowball in his hand. "What was that for?!"

"The beginning of our snowball fight." He was about to throw another at her, but was instead pelted in the face by hers.

"Very well then." She smiled and ducked, a sphere hurtling over her head.

For a few minutes they continued using up the snow from around Mist's property, but eventually they grew tired of that. Raguna began running toward his farm where more drifts awaited. Mist struggled to keep up with him.

When she arrived at the farm winter wonderland, she could no longer see him. "Raguna?" She called, timidly at first, but then more in annoyance. "C'mon, show yourself. This isn't funny, Raguna!"

Without warning, he popped up from behind a monster hut and pelted her with two snowballs. "Gotcha!"

She hissed as the cold ice crystals melted and turned into their chemical compound of H2O. "Raguna! You'll pay for that!"

He chuckled as he ran up the path into the (soon to not be) quiet village of Kardia. Mist sprinted after him, throwing handfuls of snow at every chance she got.

* * *

Bianca de Sainte-Coquille took a deep breath. She enjoyed taking a stroll in the park, alone. Suddenly, something hit the back of her head. She whirled around, face red with anger. "Ok, who threw that?!"

Mist and Raguna stood paralyzed in shock. He shoved the platinum blonde toward the angry rich girl. "It was Mist!" He cried, running off again.

She quickly apologized to Bianca and chased after him. Bianca huffed in anger and contempt. She stomped to Mayor Godwin's house as fast as her heeled boots would allow her.

"Mayor Godwin!" She shouted as she threw open the door with a bang.

He nearly fell from the ladder he was standing on, as he was repairing a wooden beam that had come loose. "Yes? What is it?" He asked urgently.

"I was just hit with a snowball! Do you know why?" She placed her hands on her hips indignantly.

"Humour me." He wiped his hands on his robe and stepped down from the ladder, coming to stand in front of the teen.

"Raguna and Mist are tossing them around everywhere all over town!" She happened to glance out the window as the persons in question ran past. "See? Look!"

Godwin went up to the window and peered outside. He turned back to her with a chuckle. "They're just having a bit of fun. Let them be. They aren't hurting anyone."

"B-but-!"

"Go, Miss de Sainte-Coquille. I am very busy and I believe that you should leave well enough alone." He was pushing her out the door as he spoke.

Soon she found herself staring at a closed door. "Well. Fine then." With a sigh, she started back to the park to be alone again. _Just as long as I don't get more snow down my back._

* * *

"All right, now can we enjoy our hot chocolate?"

"Yeah." Mist smiled as she went into her kitchen to warm up the left mugs. Both she and Raguna had returned after it began to get dark, and they were still shivering from laughter and cold. "We left in such a hurry; I didn't even think about the drinks."

"Neither did I," Raguna called from the main room. He was stoking up the fire again.

She returned promptly with two new mugs. Giving one to him, she sat down on the rug next to where he was.

"Thanks." He placed his nose close to the cocoa to sniff it. Mist giggled as she saw that he had some froth on the tip of his snout.

She reached up to wipe it away. "There. Much better."

He smiled and nodded. "Yeah…"

"Raguna, thanks for spicing up my day. I had fun."

"Huh? Oh, so did I. Thanks." He chuckled nervously.

She leaned her head on his shoulder and stared into the fire. His eyes darted from her head to the fire. He smiled contentedly. _I love snowy days…_

**

* * *

**

The ending was a bit sudden, I feel. Hm.

-LoRF


	2. Walks, Wolves, and Mist

**A/N: Here it is: Chapter 2 of my intended one-shot! I thank all the people who made a comment on the ending of the previous chapter and said that it needed more. I sincerely hope that this fufills what you wanted. This is also pretty exciting for me, as it is my first more-than-a-one-shot story published on this site! Yay! Anyway, enjoy! Disclaimer: I don't own any- *phone rings* Hello? You say I DO own _Rune Factory_?! Great! Thank you very much! *hangs up phone* There you have it. Apparently I- *phone again* Yes? Oh... That call was for the guy who actually does own _Rune Factory_? And I really OWN NOTHING? No, that's fine. I understand. Thank you. *hangs up phone* ...I'm going to go cry in the corner now...**

* * *

The next day it was Raguna's turn to be surprised. As he was opening the door to go check on his monsters, he was shocked to see Mist standing there, one hand raised to knock. "Oh. Hey Mist. Uh, what are you doing here?"

She let her hand drop back to her side. "Hi Raguna. Since you kept me entertained yesterday, I'm going to do the same for you."

"Oh really?" He smiled in amusement. The memory from the giant snowball fight was still fresh in his mind.

"Yep!" She grinned at him.

He leaned against the door-jamb. "So, what is it today? Another snowball fight?"

"I was hoping we could go for a walk…" A tint of red appeared on Mist's cheeks.

"Sure. Just hold on." He disappeared in his house for a moment. Soon he reappeared and walked outside to stand next to her. Shutting the door tightly, he turned to her. "Ok, let's go."

They turned down the path toward Toros Cave. Mist took a deep breath to calm herself. "So… Hey."

"Hey."

She giggled nervously. "Um, how did you sleep last night?"

"Good. You?"

"Fine. Just…fine."

Raguna smiled at her as he pointed a finger in the direction of the path down to Misty Bloom Cave. He knew from experience that it was her favorite cave, as it was beautiful inside and bore her name. _What a coincidence, _He thought.

She ran up to the entrance. "I love this cave."

"I know." He smiled as he stood beside her.

"Do you want to go in?"

"Do you?" He looked at her.

She shrugged. "Not necessarily. I mean, if you want to I'll go, but other than that-"

"I'll take that as a no."

She was silent, busy with internally scolding herself. What an opportunity that she had passed up! She could have feigned fright at the nearest monster and he could play hero. Then she considered that she probably wouldn't have been able to do that. Raguna knew as well as anyone that she wasn't really afraid of monsters anymore.

So, they continued down the path until they came to the clearing with the overgrown Sechs Empire tank. Raguna smiled as he saw the large radish coming out of the muzzle of the gun. He thanked, for the millionth time, Terrable for coming when he did.

"Hey Raguna, why is Silver out of the barn?"

"He's not…" He looked at where Mist was. "Mist, don't!"

It was too late; the silver wolf sprang at her, and she fell back into the snow with a cry. Raguna felt his hand reach behind him to grip the sword hilt from his bag. He charged at the wolf, knocking it sideways.

The wolf staggered to its feet, shaking its head and growling at the farmer. Mist lay trembling behind him. "R-Raguna…" She whimpered.

"Stay out of the way." He turned back to the monster.

A pair of hungry yellow eyes met the dangerous indigo pair. The beast growled even louder, waiting for Raguna to strike. He didn't move, but tightened his grip on the broadsword, wishing desperately that he had thought to grab a better sword so he could protect Mist well.

The wolf, tired of playing this trivial game of wait, lunged at the farmer's throat. Raguna deftly sidestepped before crashing his blade upon the back of the creature. It howled with pain before wheeling around and lunging once more.

Raguna took it head-on this time, using the sword to block the attack. The wolf closed its jaws around the sword, blood dripping to the ground from cuts as the sharp metal sliced the inside of its mouth. He pushed the monster back.

In the sparse amount of time he had, Raguna pulled his sword from its maw and plunged it through the wolf's head. The wolf collapsed to the ground, pinned there from the weapon in its skull. With a final gurgle/growl, it died and began dissipating. A blue-white orb rocketed skyward until all that was left as proof of its previous existence was the drops of blood and the paw prints.

Raguna nodded triumphantly and cleaned his sword in the snow before sheathing it again. A small whimper of pain caught his attention. "Mist!" He remembered with panic.

He rushed to her side and knelt next to her. "Are you all right?"

She held her palm against her forearm. "I-I don't know…"

Gently, he took her hand away. His brow furrowed as he saw that two gashes ran along her arm. Blood soaked her sleeve. "I'm taking you home." Quickly, he whisked her into his arms.

"Raguna, I can walk, you know."

"I know." He began running back toward his house, completely passing hers. The wound was not bad enough for Dr. Edward to be involved, but it was a pressing concern to him that he hurried even more.

* * *

Mist stared outside from where she was sitting at Raguna's dinner table. She winced. "Ow…"

"Sorry." He finished bandaging her arm. "There. Mist, don't worry me like that again."

"I thought that it was Silver."

"Do you know what could've happened if I hadn't been there? You could've been killed!"

She glared at him. "Don't yell at me!"

"Don't ever do something that stupid again!" He shouted. "What were you thinking?!"

"I was thinking I could help." She shrunk under his piercing gaze as his words sunk in, her previous brave warning unheeded.

"Help? That you could _help_?! Mist, I… I don't know how you could've helped. My monsters never stray from my farm, understand? Don't ever think differently. I don't want you hurt."

"Well, too late." She stood up, the chair falling back against the floor with a crash. "I'm leaving if you're going to keep yelling at me like this."

"Mist!" He grabbed her uninjured arm. "Mist, don't go. Not yet."

"Why? So you can yell some more?" She turned to him, anger shining in her once happy eyes.

"No. So I can do this."

He pulled her close to him and quickly pressed his lips to hers. She stiffened in shock, but then closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around his neck. He felt her fingers begin to knot themselves in his dark-brown hair.

Too soon it ended. Mist smiled at him. "You might have said something. I wouldn't have even got up."

"Heh. Well, can I finish now?"

"Yeah."

Much to her surprise (and disappointment), he wasn't talking about another kiss. Instead, he cleared his throat. "Anyway, as I was saying, I don't want you to get hurt because I love you."

"Oh. Well, that kind of goes without saying, now doesn't it?"

"Maybe. What do you think?"

"I think… I think I just might love you back."

"Might?"

She poked the tip of his nose playfully. "You decide." Then she swept him into another kiss.

He smiled through it slightly. _Now I love snowy days, wolves, AND Mist,_ He thought contentedly.

* * *

**There, a much better ending to this little tale! I know that silver wolves don't appear outside of the caves, but I needed one to come out for this. Do pardon that. Besides, there was some actual romance, so be happy for Raguna and Mist! Haha, they go so well together I think... Not that there's anything wrong with other pairings, of course. Others are good too!**

**-LoRF**


End file.
